have a band promo shoot coming up - help!

Ok so my friend is the manager of this local band and he wants me to take some shots of the band to maybe be used on their CD that theyre recording. for equipment all i have right now is a 30d and a 17-40L. They wanna do something plain, like a brick building background or something along the lines of being simple. Do i need to pick up flashes and strobes? I have no knowledge of strobes bc I never had the need to use them. can anyone give me some pointers as to what else i need to get or show me some samples of your wrk with minimal gear? Thanx!

Disclaimer: I'm not a professional photog, but like to read and try lots.
So with that said, I love using small strobes and simple set up for my shoots, there's a lot of info to go over but in I'll try and sum it in short.

I like to use 2 light sources, 580exII, 430ex, you'll need radio triggers to fired those guys off camera, Ebay triggers do the trick cheaply, but you 'll have to wait for shipping and arrival.
I Usually fire the flash through an diffuser umbrella or bounce it off of a big surface near by.
Expose for the environment, and after you have that looking good, adjust the power in your flashes to get your subject where you need it to be, light wise.

If you shooting on the side of a building on the shade, a lot of times all you might need is a bounce disk to get a little bit of light in their faces. but there will be nice even lighting if you shoot on a bright time of the day, but in the shade.

You can check out some of my set ups here.

http://freddyoropeza.c​om/blog/

Hope this helps any.

it does help. Thanks sk8ape... this is probably going to be the location #2 is a bit under exposed, i know

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How about shooting them live, see what you get?

Shoot high angles, and from the floor...........

http://midnightblue.sm​ugmug.com …9_KBQ69/1/52136​9637_cgX8h

I asked and they want non-live shots. Id love to shoot them live but its not what they want =-/

Ah -- Pick a nice background. I did that for the band as well -- A shot @ dusk in a local outdoor mall --

http://midnightblue.sm​ugmug.com …2_wX2ZM/1/18931​5170_YXtS6

The shots of the band that was done for are not online, so there's the venue -- Hope it helps with your ideas!

FWIW, you don't need a flash if you can get decent light from the sun........

thats a great spot Sam, wish there was something like that on Long Island! You wouldnt recmend a flash for fill?

I'm not a portrait guy, but I would avoid the train tracks... It is quite cliche for band photos. When we did our band photos we joked about the brick wall and train tracks. Having a unique location really might help the pictures stand out from the crowd more! What type of music do they do?

Either way, best of luck to you!

Here is what not to do
http://www.rockandroll​confidential.com/hall/​index.php